Don't Let this Miracle End in Tragedy
by Fae Dreamdance
Summary: Regardless of J'onn's attempt to discover humanity's beauty, it's sickness infects the sliver of hope still housed in his spirit. He learns that, like a disease, the flaws of man are found on all four corners of the Earth.
1. Preface

**Don't Let this Miracle End in Tragedy  
><strong>Preface

A young woman stared at an elderly couple as they spoke in soft voices to one another, seemingly lost in their own world. And what a world it was as both were thoroughly engaged in nothing else but each other, captured by sheer respect and awe they had for the one seated across them. Her gaze pierced through the inky dark night and burned right into both of them, like fire catching cotton fibers, in sheer disdain. Had she the ability to issue venom with merely her eyes, she would - anything to destroy the disgustingly pleasant sight. "I don't like him." She stated stiffly, and in a low hiss, as she folded her arms over her chest and turned her dark scowl on her companion.

"Yes, you've made that perfectly clear since the day he arrived. You can find no man or woman on this stretch of land who would mistake your feelings for anything but hate." Answered a calm voice that belonged to her tall, willowy counterpart. His voice was deep and, where her eyes couldn't be willed away from them, he hadn't even looked up to the couple. Instead, he opted to offer them privacy as it was clearly an intimate discussion they shared. "You're too harsh, Rui. Let her have her pleasure, while she still can."

The woman hesitated, as if considering his request - not because she accepted the notion, but because she was willing to first consider any of his ideas out of an innate respect for his opinion. However, she scowled a moment later as she absolutely dismissed the suggestion. "Mother could have her pleasure with just us - her family - Shen. If you do recall, she spent more than enough time relying on us to glean any sort of completion. He is _not _family."

"The law sees it differently. He is her husband. True, he is not our father, but he is family, both hers and ours. You would do well to remember that little one, before unnecessarily causing rifts that could otherwise be avoided. Its nothing but unfair pain for mother and certainly a headache for the rest of us." The uncharacteristically tall and lean Chinese man warned his little sister before placing a hand lightly on her shoulder. She immediately shrugged his hand off and took a full step away from him to prove her point; she didn't want to be touched. It didn't phase the man though as he seemed used to his sister's less than receptive personality.

"It feels like he's staring through me sometimes. Like he can see right into my soul. It's unnerving; like he's attached to something more powerful than we could possibly fathom." Just then, the squat Asian man glanced over at the both of them and it made Rui's body stiffen further and a chill passed her. "See what I mean? I know he can hear me, he's all the way over there. Yet it somehow seems as if he knows exactly what I'm thinking, in this case saying. I don't like you." She waved a hand at the two of them boldly, but pointed her clear and concise disdain at the man who was in her mother's company. Her tilted eyes narrowed slightly, hoping he had heard that much as she hardly veiled her contempt for their step-father.

"Rui." Shen spoke firmly, as if scolding her by use of her name. He leaned forward and pressed his lips to her forehead where a line of trimmed black bangs sat like a thin skin in and of itself. It was affection of his own, offering comfort to his sister as he had always done so and knew no other way to treat her. She was his responsibility and if her head and heart were frazzled, he was there to soothe it - but not without reminding her that the reason for her unease was not at all justified.

"It should only be unnerving should you have something to hide; should your soul be in need of disguising. If he could see into the depth of your very being, would it be so alarming? It would not be you that should worry, but him for looking in the first place at a destination he should not be witnessing. A private place. It is for you to keep and share with whom you choose, but the point remains that if you have nothing to hide then you aren't the one in the wrong. That is, should he actually be looking passed your flesh and into your very essence, it would be he who is the villain. If he were capable of doing so that is. But he wouldn't Rui, I promise - he's a good man."

Rui didn't like her old brother's answer for many reasons, chief among them was the fact that she had nothing but a feeling that drove her dislike for him. In fact, she despised her brother momentarily for even thinking of siding with the man who'd stolen their mother from them. He was awkwardly Chinese, at least he was when they met him, and Rui was sure he was from one of the derelict provinces where their children weren't educated but worked in the rice fields from early adolescence. Shen had defended him then too, claiming his difference, his social peculiarity, was something to embrace and understand. Shen had said he was very smart in ways they couldn't see and they should consider him a boon to their family as they could learn from him. Rui thought Shen was the stupid one then too.

Her eyes narrowed to little slits as she watched Shen slip in the direction of the couple, of her mother and the outsider she would never accept. She reasoned that she was an adult, albeit a young one, but plenty old enough to choose whom she liked and who she didn't. Where her brother was dead set on making every life experience a lesson well learned, Rui did the same without the rose-colored glasses that seemed to sit upon the brim of his or her mother's nose. Or so she believed as the notion that her pessimism being misplaced was something Rui refused to consider.

"Zhan." Shen offered a polite little bow to the couple, but addressed the man directly. He held up a book to the man who was well shorter than he was, though the difference did not diminish Shen's respect for him. A small smile pulled at the corners of the man's thin lips, creating the slightest wrinkle around his eyes. It was the same sort of smile he always bore when he attempted a grin. Never did Zhan, as Shen called him because he found it difficult to pronounce the first letter as a J and the vowel as the O in Western culture, show all of his teeth when he offered a smile. He had introduced himself as 'John', but the locals mistook his name for Zhan, a traditional Chinese name, as he'd arrived in the trappings of an authentic China native.

"You only like him because he teaches you English." Rui brushed passed them, making no indication of the fact that her mother and J'onn were right there. The stout, little Chinese woman stifled the look of shock that crossed her face for her daughter's blatant disregard for respecting her elders. She hurried after the young woman scolding her, in a soft hiss, as she went.

"I already speak English." Shen told J'onn in his native tongue, as it was easier to speak that way quickly. "Please disregard her. She means no harm, truly. Beyond that I'm not using your skills for my own ends. I enjoy the time we spend together. It's true you assist me in perfecting the art of language. We are simple people." J'onn knew this already as they lived and worked on land of their own. It was on the outskirts of the Chinese rice fields on one side and mountains on the other that situated the land owned by J'onn's wife, having inherited it from her former dead husband. Never had he considered any of them as not having worth. On the contrary they all, even Rui, mattered to him. "But that has little to do with why I enjoy learning from you."

"I know." J'onn answered simply. He had long ago adapted to the culture and the family in which he was part of now. Where he arrived when he was still considerably an outsider, at this time, few would be able to tell he wasn't born and raised in this very village. "I believe," J'onn said as he accepted the book from the other man, "we were last working on perfecting the use of T and H together, yes? You were almost there. Three." He offered, instigating Shen to echo him.

"Shree." Shen immediately responded, his soft dialect making his voice sound songish on the word foreign to his tongue. It was beautiful in a poetic way, but certainly not the word Shen had meant to say as the intricateness of the languages clashed.

"Three." J'onn said patiently, giving a small nod of his head to encourage Shen to try again. J'onn had no accent when he spoke, at least not in English and even most times, he could mask his tone in Chinese as well. He simply had studied for so long, out of respect for these people, to perfect that which they held dear in their native tongue.

Shen paused, thinking about the word and it's parts. "S'ree." A heavy frown crossed his lips as he realized he'd taken a step backward by trying too hard and having lost the 'H' sound all together.

"Do not be frazzled by it - you will get there, I will help you. Three." J'onn gave the example again.

Shen, unwilling to yield, squared his shoulders as if he was ready to attack the very word J'onn was offering. A worthy adversary, one of great difficulty and therefore must be conquered efficiently. It was Shen's calm demeanor, his drive for excellence and his perseverance to try until he got it right, that kept him from backing down against this particular foe. He opted for a different approach this time. _"Free."_

"Watch my tongue when I speak; it just barely grazes the surface of my teeth before the air passes through. Three." He watched Shen consider the word further.

"Thssree." Shen hesitated and then said, definitively. "I will one day own this word."

J'onn smiled at Shen's determination as it was meant in spirit rather than villainy. "Indeed." He almost chuckled his response at the much younger man.

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><p>Author's Note :: I thought Jackie was going to flip her lid with the summary requirement on this site. It was rather entertaining. Perhaps you lovely folks will earn an appropriate summary at the start of Chapter 1, where this story truly begins. Now, it seems we're fixated on J'onn. And really...I am. It's all Mandy's fault. However we think there will be other hero appearances in this story and we've been toying with a Flash story in which we share as I do enjoy writing Wally. Either way, yes we are once again exploring J'onn and those around him. This story is meant to take place in the LJALJU animated series, after the point in which J'onn leaves the league to better understand humanity. As we always do, the story title is a borrowed Alkaline Trio Lyric. We don't own it. Thank you very much for taking the time to read this. We would appreciate any feedback you might have. V/R :: Mandy and Jackie


	2. Chapter 1

**Don'****t Let this Miracle End in Tragedy**

Chapter 1

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><p>"Do you remember the day we met?" J'onzz Chang Fei Yen asked her husband in a dreamy sort of pleasant voice. Not even the cheery chirping of birds could rival the pleasantry of her tone. Out of respect for her former husband, and her children born to him, she retained his surname; Chang, and absolved herself completely of her family name when she took on J'onn's name too. She was a thoughtful sort, often easily lost in sky gazing or the aroma of whatever particular flower she seemed to pass by. But in that, she was sacrificing as she constantly looked for ways to please those she loved to which her happiness would also be obtained. Her question was just as far off as her often breezy demeanor. J'onn learned early that she was the sort to easily get her heart crushed for her innocent naivety, which was normally reserved for children, extended well beyond her presence of mind to let the cruelties of those around her, even natural - like the death of her first husband - influence her. It was, initially, what drew him to her.<p>

As J'onn tried to find his way through the dregs of society, the parts that made him want to fight for a better earth, he wondered if he was doing the right thing. He often questioned his decision to leave the league, but never with such power that he considered returning until he'd done his very best to wade through the plethora of atrophied culture and wasted civilization. His mission was to find the diamond in the rough - the thing that made this planet so worth working for, maybe even dying for. He was not nearly ready to give up when he found her, therefore her question echoed in his mind and in his throat was a resounding, "Yes."

His response was not nearly as powerful as the automatic instinct to bellow it at her; as that was how swiftly his heart and head meant to retort. She was the not the first miracle he'd found in the dreadful spirits of the less self-sacrificing and selfish, greedy individuals she shared the world with. J'onn, though knowing the politics of humanity and the globe, could never fully understand why mankind was as divided as it was. Interpreting the people and their whims was difficult enough, combining the inherent voracity and desire to promote only one's self lead to government; which was counterintuitive as the institution of government often claimed to strive for the betterment of society. All at the expense of the society it governed and that was where J'onn found his biggest obstacle to interpret - how people truly defined lines of separation geographically, racially and socially. It was a thing he grappled with regularly, but left only for his own mental playground.

Fei Yen had been one of the few pure spirits he met on his pilgrimage. It was Shen, however, that sealed his curiosity and drew him to them. Two souls with less malice than even some of his friends, his family, in the Justice League. It was a purity he had not seen since his days on Mars, and even then it was rare to find such beings full of compassion and optimism in the world. They weren't heroes, they had no intention on saving human-kind from all the villainy of the world. Fei Yen and her son, at market that spring day, were like the sensation of clarity in J'onn's head. They exemplified that which brought him ease and serenity. Amis the myriad of hustle and bustle, me-driven personalities simply trying to get that last bit of seasoning for dinner or pound of rice, they were quiet in his mind, calm and nearly weightless on his burdened head.

"It was right here." She said, her eyes drifting to the dirt packed road below their feet. They often returned to that same market every few weeks as it was a chore for Fei Yen and J'onn enjoyed just simply spending time with the soft woman. She was truly taken with it, her mind seemingly distracted by her own words and with it, J'onn smiled happily for her easy comfort. She was often considered slow by others, daft even, but what they saw as weaknesses, J'onn saw as strengths. She had a way of pulling him in with her virtue as he could take a minute to see the components of life that made up the complexities he so often got caught up in. She wasn't capable of calculating the force and mass of the planet and how it might collide with some other celestial body. She wasn't aware of the most recent diplomatic agenda for the United Nations. She didn't have aspirations to be the most well known Chinese woman in history, both modern and in ancient times. However, she was driven to be the most knowledgeable person about her family's day-to-day lives, to provide them with the most fulfilling life while teaching them how to offer the same to those around them. She strove for sharing her very person with them as best she could. Fei Yen, if asked her biggest wish, would say that she hoped her loved ones remembered her when she was gone from them.

He had come to China in pursuit of the monastery that was said to be nestled in the nearby mountains. At the time, he'd gotten distracted from this initial goal, completely lost in rapture with the woman who's soul was one of the few lucid individuals he'd found in all his years on Earth. It was sad to him that purity was so rare among humans. Many showed signs of altruism and lack of vanity, but not so inherently that it outweighed the greed and indulgence. However, he had found, that among humanity, the most moral of people came from those most simple. Arrogance came hand-in-hand with knowing one had something to lose. Over confidence was tied to the idea that there were greater qualities in one over another. It was those superior attributes that made an arrogant man believe he could defeat loss and sadness, that he was above such emotions. J'onn's stout little wife was the sort who, instead, felt everything fully and didn't possess such arrogant disregard for others. Her most valued possession was not her pride, but her people; Shen, Rui and certainly J'onn.

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><p><em>Author's Note<em> :: My apologies about the short chapter. We have had this complete for many weeks. However this is not the whole of the chapter but as, for the moment, this piece is on hold I figured it was only fair to post it and give a fair warning for the nature of our intentions. We got distracted, again, we also had a bit of a complex discussion in regard to the Justice League and J'onn's character which caused us to halt our current endeavor. We will, hopefully, come back to this piece. It's owed justice. Please don't give up on us.

To our loyal and new readers - you are wonderful. Sir Loki, I know we responded to your review but you are so kind to us an always have been. I can convey my gratitude enough to you for all you have offered us in critique and encouragement. You are truly fantastic. Thank you so much Amanthya for giving us a shot. When we get around to writing more we do hope you'll still be interested and will not be disappointed. Sorahart...dear Sorahart, you were our first inspiration. Our first reviewer, for it you always hold a special place in our heart. I also hope you will read future pieces to this story when they come around. And finally to Anahnee...it was such a bright and beautiful thing to see you check out this piece too. Your words are always fabulous and always encouraging as well as your helpful advice. You were one of our most dependable sources of encouragement while we visited the Justice League for the first time and this time we felt the same excitement when we saw your review. Thank you so much for reading. All of you. You are amazing.

V/R - Mandy and Jackie


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